A large and growing population of users enjoys entertainment through the consumption of media items, including electronic media, such as electronic books (also referred to herein as ebooks), electronic newspapers, electronic magazines, and other electronic reading material. Users employ various electronic devices to consume such publications. Among these electronic devices are electronic book readers, cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), smart phones, portable media players, tablet computers, electronic pads, netbooks, desktop computers, notebook computers, and the like.
These electronic devices often use wireless communication systems (e.g., WiFi communication systems such as 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11c, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11ac etc.) or cellular communication systems (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Advanced, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), High Speed Packet Access Plus (HSPA+), code division multiple access (CDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) etc.) to download or upload digital media items. An electronic device may maintain a communication channel with a digital content providing system (e.g., one or more server computers which provide digital content to the electronic devices). The digital content providing system may provide digital media items (such as electronic books, digital music, digital videos, news feeds, etc.), software (such as software applications (apps), software updates, etc.), or instructions (e.g., instructions for the electronic device to update a configuration parameter (such as screen brightness, power settings, network settings, etc.) of the electronic device, instructions for the electronic device to notify the user with a message, instructions for the electronic device to perform a particular action, etc.) to the electronic device via the communication channel. The digital content providing system may also use other communication channels or protocols to inform (e.g., notify) an electronic device that digital media items are available for download or that the electronic device should perform one or more actions. For example, the digital content providing system may transmit a short messaging service (SMS) message or a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message to the electronic device.